When taking marketing courses, few people take B2B marketing into account. Hannah Swinkin is the foremost authority on SEO in B2B marketing. I had the wonderful pleasure to attend Hannah Swinkin's session from the Digital Media Marketing class last week, where she shared her career story and insights with us. Hannah Swinkin is the Head of Marketing at Boxhub. I would like to use this occasion today to share what I learned from Hannah's sharing.
Hannah’s Journey
The trip Hannah took in her career was enlightening. She dropped out from university and worked a variety of jobs in the sales, teaching, and copywriting industries. She began to see her potential as a copywriter at that point, so she went back to school and finished her degree in English Language and Communications. She started working as a freelancer on Upwork and numerous other platforms. She began working as a content writer in 2017 and has now achieved the position of Head of Marketing at Boxhub.
B2B Marketing VS Direct-to-Consumer (DTC)
What are the main differences between Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing and Direct-to-Consumer (DTC)? Hannah gave a thorough explanation on this subject. In terms of audiences, B2B marketing targets a more niche audiences whereas B2C marketing targets to a broader audience. While B2C marketing only involves one decision maker, who is often the end user, B2B marketing typically involves several decision makers to close a larger deal. As a result, the buying cycles in B2B marketing are lengthier than those in B2C marketing. From a content perspective, B2B side is typically more informative and informationally driven, whereas B2C side can be more entertainment focus. Lastly, decision-making on the B2B side is more value-driven, whereas it can be more price-driven on the B2C side.
Source: Hannah's presentation slide
In terms of SEM…
Hannah believed there were additional benefits for B2B marketing. Since more people are involved in the decision-making process, there will be more inquiries you can answer and more content on your website. Therefore, there are more opportunities to dominate search results with more niche audiences in a less competitive market.
Source: Hannah's presentation slide
Hannah provided us a fantastic illustration of how B2B and B2C search differ. Informational, Commercial, Transactional, and Navigational Searchers are the four categories of B2C searchers that we are already aware of. In the B2B world, the three basic buyer types are Economic, User, and Technical Buyers. The Economic Buyer is the one who ultimately decides whether the investment is worthwhile for the company (i.e., more price-focus). The individual who regularly uses the product or service is known as the User Buyer (i.e., more efficiency-focus). The Technical Buyer is the individual who examines the ecosystem of the product or service for optimization (i.e., more technical-focus).
Misconception about B2B Marketing
People frequently perceive B2B marketing as being boring and dull. That is because the most common assumption is that B2B marketing is synonymous with marketing to businesses. However, in reality, you're still marketing to consumers who are just portraying their professional selves. Hannah really thought of B2B as B2P, which stands for Business-to-Professional and serves as a helpful reminder that you are still persuading actual persons.
Career tips: What actions could you take to be career-ready?
Hannah provided her tips to any aspiring SEO specialists out there on how to succeed.
There is no one correct path for job advancement. Sometimes lateral movements are okay too.
Take advantage of opportunities to produce content for senior leadership while keeping your focus on the company's objective.
Learnings from case study
During Hannah’s session, we were given a case study on Gather, which is about a B2B tech start-up company selling virtual office space in the Metaverse. The experience of playing the role of an SEO specialist at Gather and developing SEO plans for informational, commercial, and transactional searches was a lot of fun. Additionally, we developed suggestions for content that would raise Gather's position in Google for each of these searches.
We came up with a variety of ideas for the website's content while working as a group. For instance:
Informational: Provide video tours of the different worlds they offer
Commercial: Testimonials on the website
Transactional: Advertise on the free version of the virtual offices
Overall, learning about SEO tactics through actual case studies was engaging and enjoyable. I have learnt that the key to success of a SEO strategy is being empathetic. Put yourself in the position of the searchers. Determine what they are trying to say when they type into Google, and then match it with high-quality, relevant contents.
Is B2B Marketing appealing?
Hannah's talk definitely opened my eyes to the possibility of a B2B marketing career.
“45% of small businesses aren’t sure what SEO means, yet 98% think being found on Google is important.”
As marketer, I can see a huge opportunity in this field. Forget everything I've ever heard about B2B marketing; there is still an a plenty of space for creativity in this industry. I would definitely be open to B2B Marketing positions in the future throughout the job search process and give it a shot!
Major Takeaways!
I hope everyone can learn something from Hannah and be inspired by her career path. Here are the major takeaways from her lecture:
Always be prepared to educate;
Establish clear expectations;
Communicate extensively when necessary;
and wait for the outcomes with patience.
What are your thoughts on B2B Marketing? Please let me know in the comments section below.
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